Bay of Plenty too powerful
John Hill
PIONEER Seeds Poverty Bay were no match for a powerful Bay of Plenty in their Fergus Hickey Rosebowl limited-overs game at Harry Barker Reserve yesterday.
Chasing 306 to win off 50 overs, the home side were all out for 165 in 41.3 overs after winning the toss and putting BoP in to bat.
“We thought there might be something in the pitch early on and backed ourselves to pick up wickets but it didn’t happen,” said Bay skipper Mark Jefferson.
“We didn’t hit the areas as well as we did against Hawke’s Bay recently.
“The wicket flattened out, as we knew it would, and without early wickets we were up against it.
“They have some very good cricketers. On a hot day and a big outfield we were chasing a big score.
“When it came our turn to bat they had (Northern Districts’ speedster Te Ahu) Davis bowling at a pace we don’t face here in club cricket. Jono Bolt batted well for them, as did (former New Zealand test batsman Lorne) Howell.
“I was impressed with our draft player Tom Bosher, and Zane Boyle had a good game on debut.
“But needing over 300 to win, we had to have someone score a hundred and a couple of other batsmen post big scores, and that didn’t happen.”
Bolt top-scored for with 88 and shared in three partnerships that laid the foundation for the visitors’ massive total.
He batted for 140 minutes and faced 98 balls.
After fellow opener Ben Christensen was caught by Jared McDonald off Bosher with the score at 14, Bolt and Peter Drysdale (53) took the score to 83 before Craig Christophers had Drysdale caught by Jefferson.
Christophers had a good day in the field, effecting two run-outs as well as picking up two wickets.
He ran out Howell to end a 96-run third-wicket partnership with Bolt, then did the same to the hard-hitting Davis to end a 51-run fourth-wicket stand.
But Ben Williams ensured the home players had no respite. He hit 64 runs off 41 balls in 47 action-packed minutes.
Poverty Bay’s innings got off to a bad start when Carl Carmody was dismissed with only 20 runs on the board. Two runs later, McDonald was back in the pavilion.
Apart from a courageous stand from Clarke (52) and Glenn Morley (22) in the face of some hostile bowling, the remaining home batsmen struggled to cope with the pace and accuracy of Davis.
Ian Loffler chipped in with 23, while No 11 batsman Jimmy Holden raised a cheer from his team-mates with a couple of big shots before being bowled by Christensen for 11. Bosher finished unbeaten on seven.
Poverty Bay next play a two-day match against Waikato Valley in Gisborne in two weeks.
Poverty Bay v Bay of Plenty
BOP
J Bolt run out Christophers....................................88
B Christensen c McDonald b Bosher.......................8
P Drysdale c Jefferson b Christophers...................28
L Howell run out Christophers................................41
Te Ahu Davis b Christophers..................................23
B Williams c Clarke b Bosher.................................64
J Mitchell c Clarke b Bosher......................................1
R Rice c McDonald b Holden.................................14
D Hill not out.............................................................7
S Rae not out...........................................................2
Extras......................................................................29
Total (for eight wickets).........................................305
Bowling: T Bosher 10-0-63-3, J Holden 7-0-51-1, M Jefferson 7-0-30-0, C Christophers 10-0-68-2, Z Boyle 10-0-58-0, I Loffler 3-0-22-0.
Poverty Bay
T Clarke c Gibbs b Bolt..........................................52
C Carmody c Christensen b Hill...............................5
J McDonald lbw Davis..............................................0
J Bates b Davis.........................................................4
G Morley c Bolt b Trembath....................................22
M Jefferson lbw Trembath.......................................14
C Shaw lbw Bolt.......................................................0
I Loffler b Davis.......................................................23
C Christophers c Rae b Christensen......................10
T Bosher not out.......................................................7
J Holden b Christensen..........................................11
Extras......................................................................17
Total......................................................................165
Bowling: Te Ahu Davis10-4-16-3, D Hill 7-0-33-0, J Trembath 10-1-50-2, A Gibbs 4-0-19-0, J Bolt 7-0-21-0, B Christensen 3.3-0-21-2.